


Supernova

by StarChild92



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-18 06:58:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11286060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarChild92/pseuds/StarChild92
Summary: Leading a merry band of misfits to track down the rogue Spectre wanted by the council, the Shepard twins find themselves in the middle of a plot that is much bigger than any of them could ever imagine





	1. Eden Prime

_“I assume that these files are up to date?” The human ambassador,_ _Donnel_ _Udina_ _,_ _looked at a pair of data pads on his desk before glancing at the hologram forms of_ _both Captain David Anderson and Admiral Steven Hackett._  

 _“They are, and I_ _personally vouch for both_ _.” Anderson_ _stood with the proudness of a military man as did the Admiral to his left._ _“They’re both from earth; spent most of their lives on space stations while their parents were deployed, they also graduated top of their class during N-training._  

 _Hackett, having his own copy of the files in his_ _hands, looked to the ambassador. “Also take into consideration, Ambassador, that they held off enemy forces during the Blitz. It’s because of them that Elysium is even still standing now. Having one would be an asset, having both would be an unstoppable force; plus, I hear it’s an “all or nothing” situation with them?” He directed that last question back to Anderson who nodded._  

 _“Well I guess we can’t question their bravery or skills…”_ _Udina_ _sighed, his job was about to get a little more difficult, of that he was certain, but he nodded. “Anderson, finish your mission and then bring them here. I’ll make the call with the Council.” The holograms nodded in understanding before ending their transmissions, leaving_ _Udina_ _alone in his large office to read over the files of the two people in q_ _uestion. ‘Nova_ _ra_ _Jane and Leon_ _John Shepard’_  

 _*_  

“Congrats on the graduation from N-5 Ari!” Nova and Leo congratulated their cousin from the secondary video communication room aboard the Normandy, an experimental stealth ship that was on her maiden voyage. The twins were alone in the room as they had requested an hour to talk to their cousin, Aries Shepard, who had just finished another level of N-Training. 

“I’ll be catching up to you two shits soon. Though I heard you got promoted on that fancy ship of yours.” 

“Yeah, LJ here finally got his butt up to Lieutenant Commander.” She and her cousin shared a laugh at Leo’s expense. 

       “You two were always inseparable, weren’t you?” The darker skinned Shepard ran a hand through her short black locks as her laughter died down. “Any idea when you guys are going to be back? I’d love to see you guys for shore leave. 

“We don’t know, Captain’s not telling much about the mission yet.” Leo spoke up with a shrug of his shoulders. 

   “If we knew- “Nova was interrupted by a messaging ping on both her and Leo’s omni-tool. 

          “ _Would the resident twin Commander and Lieutenant Commander grace us with their presence on the bridge?”_ The voice was that of their pilot, Jeff, or Joker as he liked to be called, thus ending the video call much earlier than any of them would’ve liked. 

     “Sorry Ar, duty calls.” Nova frowns as the each say goodbye, with a promise for them to go into their mission fighting strong and that they would see each other soon. 

     Once the call had disconnected, the Shepard siblings hurried to the bridge, making sure not to collide with some of the racing crew members as they were coming up on the Mass Relay, almost missing the pilot’s call to brace to jump before strapping into their seats. As they approached the relay, a sense of weightlessness covered them like a thick blanket when the energy of the relay connected with the ship and flung them to their destination. During the jump, Nova looked to her brother, who often hated the weightless feeling while she found it rather exciting, and once he assured her that he was fine and the all clear was given, the two left their seats and came up behind the Normandy’s pilot as he ran through a checklist of the ship’s systems. 

      “Impressive.” A Turian with brown plates and white markings wearing black and red armor commented to the pilot with a look of mild interest on his face. “I think your captain will be pleased that we’re here in actual record time.” The Spectre remarked before leaving the bridge, casting a glance at the Shepard twins before heading off, the latter nearly missing Joker’s comment on his feelings. 

“Nihlus gave you a compliment so you hate him? That makes sense.” The laughter of Kaidan Alenko sitting to Joker’s right drew the twins back to reality. 

“Call me paranoid but- “ 

     “You’re paranoid.” Kaidan and the twins helpfully informed him which made the pilot throw up his hands in defeat. 

  A messaging ding came from the ship’s computer and the voice of Captain Anderson spoke out. “Joker, how are we doing?”  

       “Everything’s green across the board Captain. Hey, I think Nihlus is on his way to see you though.” 

           “He’s already here. If the Commander and Lieutenant Commander are there, have them meet me in the comm room.” 

      Nova and Leo shared a confused look with one another, curious at why the captain would need to speak to them but did as they were told. When they reached the large room that was designated for after-mission debriefing, the twins were surprised to find Nihlus waiting for them instead of the Captain. 

“Nihlus?” Nova raised a red brow. 

    “What’s going on? Where’s the Captain?” Her brother’s confusion mirrored her own as the Turian Spectre calmly raised a hand to offer an explanation. 

“He’s on his way, I just wanted to talk. Tell me, what do you know of this planet we’re heading to?" 

Once again, the twins shared a confused look, one that they were starting to realize that they shared mainly whenever the Spectre was around. But before either could answer his question, the soft hiss of the door to the room caught their attention and they turned to see Captain Anderson stepping into the room with purpose. 

        “Captain?” Nova looked to her superior, an uneasy feeling had been creeping up her spine ever since she and her younger twin had walked into the room, a feeling that no doubt he had been feeling as well. 

“I think this charade has gone on long enough, it’s time to tell them the truth Nihlus.” At that the Turian Spectre nodded in agreement and both turned their attention back to the twins. Apparently, the mission was more than just a simple pick up on Eden Prime; the primary reason that the council had sent Nihlus aboard was to watch the twins and evaluate them for possible admission into the Spectres, a highly elite group that operated in secrecy. Nihlus had been impressed of what they had accomplished years before during the Skylian Blitz and their joined ability to get things done was highly valued.  

However, just as they were getting into details of what being a Spectre would entail, Joker cut in on the intercom and what he had to say wasn’t good. A vidscreen flickered to life with an incoming transmission from the planet below; a group of marines were under heavy fire from unknown forces, the video focused on the marines for a few seconds, likely a soldier had a camera in their helmet, when a loud booming sound rang through the air and the camera had shifted from the soldiers to some unidentifiable object descending on the planet. They barely had 2 seconds to process the entire scene before the vid cut out with static. 

       “Joker” Anderson spoke up “Rewind the last few seconds and stop.” The video rewound itself and they were now looking at the still image of the strange object that had descended to the surface. 

“Orders Captain?” 

     “Drop us in hot and quiet” He ordered the pilot before looking at the twins “Shepards, grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold.” 

“Yes sir!” The twins saluted and ran from the room. 

* 

   The mission was proving to be a disaster; in fact, they had barely been on the ground more than 5 minutes when it had all gone to shit. Joining the twins on the ground was Lieutenant Alenko as well as a young Corporal Jenkins, but as they rounded a corner, Jenkins had gone ahead under orders and was ambushed by a pair of Geth drones; a great surprise to the remaining three as Geth hadn’t been outside their ‘home’ space for centuries. They had no choice but to leave the deceased Corporal with a promise that they would be back for him. Unfortunately for the remaining three, the dispatched Geth weren’t alone and they had to fight through them until they cleared the top of a hill where a figure was running from the hostile robots as well as some type of monster that looked humanoid but the sounds they made reminded them all the old zombie movies back on earth. The first figure, one of the soldiers judging from the looks of her armor from the scope on Leo’s sniper rifle, was hiding behind a rock and was likely injured from the limp in her leg which prompted them to shoot first and then ask questions. 

They quickly learned that they weren’t the only biotics aboard the Normandy; though his powers weren’t as potent as the twins’ tag team efforts, Kaidan was quite powerful with his own biotics, which he quickly proved when he sent two of the zombie monsters, which they could only describe as ‘souless Husks’, flying right into a cliff. 

When the dust had settled and things were momentarily calm, they approached the injured soldier who had introduced herself as a Gunnery Sargent Ashley Williams. 

“We need to get to the beacon the scientists dug up” Nova explained as she helped apply some Medigel to the woman’s wounds and burns “Think you can keep up with that limp?” 

“Yes ma’am!” Ashley saluted and stretched her leg a bit before leading them down to the excavation site where the beacon was dug up, however fate was working against them as the beacon wasn’t there and there was no sign of Nihlus who was supposed to have met them there. 

“Change of plan Shepards, there’s a cargo port nearby. I’m going to check it out, meet me there.” This prompted an eye roll from the twins; their Turian ‘friend’ was proving to be a pain in the butt with his lone wolf attitude but they relented. 

“Do you know how to get to this cargo port?” Leo looked to Ashley who took a moment or two to remember the way but nodded in affirmation. She led them up a ramp and down a path that led to the port, though they remained vigilant for any trouble, they couldn’t help but run to the port when a deafening boom in the distance made their collective ear drums shudder. When they approached the main launch pad of the port, they found it was swarming with Geth, two of which were inspecting a still form laying on the cold metal ground. 

“Take that, you freaky flashlight head!” Ashley yelled as she dropped the last one with her shotgun, allowing the twins to examine the poor soul who had gotten caught off guard. 

“Oh shit…” Leo swore when they got close enough to see who it was. 

    “Nihlus.” Nova tried to will her stomach to settle at the sight of the slain Turian currently laying in a pool of his own cobalt blood. While none of the Normandy crew knew him for very long, they could all agree that the Turian, however surly he could be at times, didn’t deserve this. A sound drew them from their thoughts and they all raised their weapons as a man, likely a worker if his clothes were anything to go by. After a bit of telling the man off for nearly getting himself shot, he told them that Nihlus had been shot by another Turian, one called “Saren” and that the two seemed friendly until he had shot Nihlus in the back; it didn’t take a genius to realize that the loud sound they had heard earlier was that of a gunshot. 

The group slowly made their way along the cargo port, weapons raised and their nerves on edge, until they came upon what appeared to be a tram that would take them to the other side. The ride was mercifully quick as they were all more than ready to be done with this planet and the geth who decided to swarm the place, picking off the robots one by one was oddly amusing until they came upon what was assumed to be the beacon that they were sent to retrieve.  

“That’s weird, it certainly wasn’t doing _that_ when they dug it up…” Ashley referred to the ominous mist-like glow coming from the device, an uneasy feeling started coming over them as Nova signaled her and her brother to secure the area while Nova and Kaidan were left with the beacon. 

“Normandy, this is ground team, requesting pick up at coordinates 31.50.400.22. I’m also sending the coordinates to pick up Nihlus and Corporal Jenkins.” As she began contacting the ship to arrange a ride, Nova failed to notice that Kaidan had stepped closer to the beam to investigate it. Her back had been turned for a moment or two, but when she had turned to face him to ask him the state of the artifact, Nova found her lieutenant suspended in the air with the glowing mist circling around him. Without even thinking she rushed to him and knocked him down to the ground before finding herself in the same position he had been. 

“NJ!” Leo called out to his sister; he and Ashley had just finished a lap around the area and came to find his older twin floating in the air. He rushed to her side, hoping to do something to help her, but just before he could reach her, Ashley and Kaidan tackled him to the ground and yelled something at him but he couldn’t hear them as he was forced to watch his sister writhe in pain. In mere moments, but felt like an eternity to the younger Shepard, Nova fell onto the ground and the beacon self-destructed. Pushing the others off him, Leo was at his sister’s side; she was unconscious when he took her in his arms just as the Normandy came into view to rendezvous with them. Rising to his feet with his twin in a secure hold, the Lieutenant Commander ordered them back onto the ship and rushed his sister to the med bay where he nearly ran into Doctor Chakwas, who had been alerted to the situation and had a bed ready for their unconscious commander. 

- 

  Nova woke with a groan as she found that a nasty headache had settled itself deep within her skull. The bright light of the room did little to calm the ache and only after closing her eyes again for a few minutes until the world could dim was she able to gaze around the room and take in her surroundings. The bright room she was in was the med bay, she was laying under her personal blanket from her bunk and instead of her bulky armor, Nova found herself in the light under suit that she had been wearing. A snort from her side drew her attention and she couldn’t help but smile when she saw her brother, slumped in a chair and fast asleep, how long he had been there she didn’t know, but she could see it had been a while since he had a bit a drool on his shirt. 

“Finally awake, Commander? You gave us all quite the fright, which I’m sure your twin will have something to say about.” The calm and warm voice of Doctor Chakwas nearly surprised Nova right out of her cot as she didn’t see or hear the older woman but she nodded tiredly when her fogged mind registered the fact that she had asked a question. 

“Wait, what do you mean ‘finally’? How long was I out?” Nova forced herself to sit up again, staying quiet so her brother wouldn’t wake from his rest. 

        “About 15 hours, give or take a few minutes.” Karin looked up from her Omni-tool as she scanned her patient, not finding anything new that was out of the ordinary, though she told the Commander of some interesting brainwaves and signs of REM while calling the Captain to let him know that Nova was finally awake. 

With an order to see him in private, Nova left the med bay, though she took a moment to drape her blanket over her brother to let him sleep a little longer. She took a moment to check in on Kaidan and Ashley, who had been reassigned to serve on the Normandy given that she had proven that she was quite skilled in combat and eager to serve. They caught her up to speed about what had happened after she had blacked out; how they had brought her back to the ship and had then gone back for the bodies of Nihlus and Jenkins. After checking in with the rest of the crew, she found the Captain waiting for her in the debrief room; an uneasy feeling washing over her as she recalled that this was the same room she had last spoken to Nihlus in before his death. 

“I read both your brother’s and Doctor Chakwas’ reports, things aren’t looking too good for us. We’ll have to take this to the Citadel and see what the council will want to do with us.” 

     “Sir, you should know, before I blacked out down there, I saw this…I don’t know what it was, a dream or a vision, but when I shoved the Lieutenant out of the way, I saw these images of death and destruction….”  

Anderson frowned at this revelation but kept his thoughts to himself for now. “One thing at a time Commander. Tell Joker to take us into Citadel and go get yourself cleaned up.” He gently patted her shoulder as he dismissed her. 

As quick as she could run, Nova relayed the order to Joker before secluding herself in the crew showers. The hot water did wonders on her sore body but as she ran her hands through her long red hair, her mind couldn’t stop replaying the images she had seen from the beacon. No matter how hard she tried to focus on them, Nova couldn’t make any sense of what it was supposed to mean although she could be certain of the fact that she knew that whatever it meant, that it likely wasn’t very good. Despite what the Captain had said about the mission, she couldn't help but feel that she had blown it; because of her, a young corporal, who was probably closer to her in age amongst everyone on the ship, was dead. ' _Could I_ _have saved either of them?'_ She wondered as the hot water washed her soapy crimson locks. ' _What if I_ _had been the one to take_ _the initial push, would Richard_ _still be alive? Would he have gotten a chance to tell his family of his first real mission on the cruise?'_ Nova remembered the young Corporal telling her how he was born on Eden Prime but had moved off planet with his mother when he was just a young boy. ' _Though if he had survived Eden Prime would there have been another battle that he wouldn't have come home from?_ _He was so young, how can I tell his mother that he died so early in his career_ _?'_ And then there was Nihlus as well; despite the heat of the hot water on her skin, Nova could feel her blood run cold as she remembered the way the Turian's cobalt blood had been spattered and pooled on the cold, unforgiving metal of the space port. _'I should've made him come with us; he could still be alive if he had someone watching his back and he wouldn't have ended up in a pool of his own blood._ _"_ I move faster on my own..." _Those were his last words to_ _me_ _before he had marched to a death that_ _I_ _could have prevented if_ _I_ _only stood up to him._ _'_  

She contemplated these thoughts for a little longer before her mind was brought back to reality when the water started running cold and her shivering forced her out of the cold shower. After dressing and wringing her hair dry, she pulled her hair into a bun before stepping out into the hall to relax in her quarters. 

     ** 

A growing cramp in his neck had disturbed the peaceful nap that Leo had found himself under, a snort for air had woken him up and it took him a few moments to remember where he was.  

The Medbay was now empty save for Doctor Chakwas who had just finished stripping the sheets off the cot that Nova had been occupying for the last 15 hours. 

"Doc? What's go-" his thoughts were halted by a tired yawn that he couldn't restrain which only made the older woman chuckle sweetly. 

"Glad you've joined us in consciousness, Lieutenant Commander. I'm a little surprised to see you awake already given you spent the last 14 hours watching your sister sleep." 

"Blame the chair, doc." He grunted as he stretched his arms, not noticing Nova's blanket wrapped around his shoulders until it fell and pooled in his lap. Seeing her blanket made his sleepy brain register the fact that his sister, who was comatose when he fell asleep, was no longer in the bed beside him. "When did she wake up? Why didn't you wake me?" He stumbled to his feet and picked up the blanket when it fell out of his lap and onto the floor. 

        "Because Nova had asked me to make sure you slept since you watched over her all this time and I was in agreeance. And before you ask; yes, she's going to be okay, I don't know what happened down there but everything seems to be normal with her." 

Leo exhaled a deep breath that he hadn't realized he was holding in. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but the two were quite dependent on one another; they had both gone through N-training together and were each others' source of strength and motivation. He definitely wouldn't have made it all the way to N7 if he didn't have his sister's support and encouragement to egg him on during the 20 hour training days. "Thanks doc, did my sister say where she was heading to?" 

"I believe the Captain wanted to talk with her, but I thought I saw her heading towards the showers before you awoke." 

With another thank you to the doctor, Leo ran through the hall to find his wayward twin, stopping at the Crew Quarters to return Nova's blanket to her bunk before colliding into her just as she was stepping out of the showers. When both twins fell to the chilly tiled floor, it took Leo a moment to register what had happened before he punched his sister rather hard in the arm. 

“Leo?! What the hell’s gotten into you?” 

     “Into me? That’s rich coming from the one who didn’t even bother waking up her own brother after being unconscious for 15 hours!” The younger twin frowned at his sister who had punched him in his own arm in retaliation. The silence between the two was heavy until the very serious looks on his face had caused Nova to break down laughing and it wasn’t long until both siblings were laughing at one another and helping each other off the ground and grabbed each other in an apologetic hug; Nova for scaring her brother and he for punching her even though she deserved it. 

“You really did have me scared, Nov. I-I don’t know what I would’ve done if we lost you; not after…” Leo’s voice trailed off, even after all these years the memories were still painful for him as they were for her. But he didn’t need to say anything more, not when she knew exactly how he felt, so he leaned against his sister when she wrapped her arms around him. 

 _‘Attention all crew, we are approaching the landing pad_ _to dock. I am authorizing a 24-hour shore leave_ _.’_ Anderson’s voice called to the whole ship, whose crew cheered ecstatically cheered before a private message pinged on both Nova and Leo’s Omni-tool; apparently, they, along with Kaidan and Ashley, would be spending the shore leave waiting on an audience with the council. 

      “Perfect.” Nova groaned in frustration, lightly smacking her head on the wall hoping to rid herself of the headache before the Council could make it worse. 


	2. The Citadel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Shepard twins make new friends, uncover a plot and get a new fancy job title all in one day!

        Nova wanted to scream, or at the very least, punch a councilor; they had all but dismissed her and the reports they had on Saren and his treachery. When the topic of her vision had come up, she was practically laughed out of the councilors’ chambers. It certainly didn’t help that the councilors had taken the word of their golden agent's over hers or her brothers’. By the time the meeting had been adjourned, she had a massive headache but what really bothered her is that they didn’t get the justice for Nihlus that he deserved. 

    “I hate politicians.” Ashley voiced her opinion while Nova rubbed her aching temple, both women slightly ignoring said Ambassador who was currently ripping into the Captain for failure to control the tongues of his crew as well as the Captain’s own history with Saren. 

    They tried coming up with a plan to find evidence against Saren when Leo remembered that on the way to the hearing, they had encountered a pair of Turians in C-Sec armor who were arguing about a report on the Spectre; perhaps he could offer something to help them win over the council. With a plan in mind to find the Turian cop, the group set out to the wards to find him; at least that was the plan before they found themselves lost several times in unexpected places before finally coming to the lower markets and a dingy ‘bar’, if it could really be called that, where a red plated Krogan with a trio of deep scars running from his head plate down to his throat pushed through the twins. During their search, Ambassador Udina had contacted them with a tip of finding their cop through a contact named Harkin; whom Nova found to be a complete creep after he tried hitting on her several times before getting him to finally tell them where Garrus was last heading, a clinic not too far away and with luck they’d be able to catch him. They left Harkin in the bar with a punch to the jaw when he made one too many comments about Nova’s butt in her uniform, the Commander cracking her knuckles to relieve the pain as they journeyed through a back alley until they came upon the clinic.  

   The group had just opened the door when they found Garrus crouched low behind the half wall, weapon in hand to take out a group of thugs that were threatening the doctor who ran the facility. When the leader noticed Nova and the others, his focused shifted from the doctor which allowed Garrus to move out of cover and take the thug down with an impressively clean shot to the head. Before the body even hit the floor, the other thugs were quickly taken down by both biotics and bullets. 

“ _That_ ” Nova whistled impressively when she gazed upon the thug that Garrus had taken down “was very impressive. A good clean shot and he was down in seconds.” 

       “What can I say, I got lucky.” Garrus chuckled warmly as he extended a hand to the human Commander in thanks for their help. 

   After making sure the doctor was unharmed from the thugs who had been threatening her, they learned that the thugs had worked for Saren and had targeted Doctor Michel for information; apparently a Quarian had information proving Saren's treachery, and he had sent the thugs to shut them both up. They had targeted the Doctor because she had set the Quarian up to talk to Fist, the owner of Chora's Den, who worked for the Shadow Broker. 

  "Fist? Wasn't that Krogan making threats against him?" Leo looked to Garrus who was checking a message on his Omni-tool. 

        "Yeah, C-Sec has him detained at the Academy for repeat offending. Maybe we can catch him before my Superiors throw him off the station." Garrus chuckled as he led the group to the nearest elevator that would take them to their destination. The ride down to C-Sec Academy was agonizingly slow and the choice of music oddly reminded the twins of the old movies they watched as children. When the elevator finally reached their destination, Garrus once again took the lead since he obviously knew where he was going, not that any of the others minded since it was their first time setting foot on the station. “He should be around here somewhere…” Garrus rumbled in thought as he rounded a corner that led to the Academy’s holding area before crashing into the very Krogan that they were trying to find. He groaned as the impact had caused the Krogan’s frontal plate to crash into Garrus’s nose, a stream of blue blood dripping down his chin and into his armor. 

     “Watch it _Turian_ _._ ” The big Krogan growled as his blood red eyes glared at the offending male; it was no galactic secret that Krogans and Turians hated each other over the sterility virus that plagued the Krogan race, they also hated the Salarians but since none were nearby now, the bounty hunter only had Garrus in his focus. 

     “Gentleman” Nova stepped between the two before a scene could be made, though a few heads were already turned to the sound of the Krogan’s growling and Garrus’ own angered subvocals “I take it you must be Wrex?” She extended an opportunity for the male to introduce himself properly while offering Garrus a hand up. 

  “Do I know you human?” The mercenary glared at her with distrust in his eyes, it was bad enough he had to entertain Citadel Security, now he had random armored humans questioning him. 

         “Commander Nova Shepard, Alliance Navy.” 

   That seemed to lighten the male’s mood as he chuckled lightly as if in thought. “I’ve heard of you. So, what do you want?” 

“Word is you’re going after Fist” Leo spoke up at his sister’s side “We’re looking for information on someone he knows.” 

   Silence hung over the group as the Krogan mulled over his thoughts before extending a hand to the twins in agreement; he would help them get to Fist but only if he was the one to take him down. They had started walking to the elevator back to the lower wards when Nova realized that they had too many people in the group, and given their current mission, Fist would see them all coming; but Nova had a remedy for that. 

“You know” She looked to the lieutenant and gunnery chief who shared a brief questioning look between the two of them “technically, you’re both on shore leave like the rest of the crew. You two should go enjoy the rest of the time while you can.” 

“Commander?” Ashley was skeptical about leaving her commanding officers with these new aliens. “Are you sure you want us to go?”  

“We could be your back up.” Kaidan offered but was quieted by Nova when she raised her hand. 

   “Yes, I’m sure I want two of my crew to take part of their mandatory shore leave that, need I remind you, was issued by the Captain himself.” Nova reassured her team and smiled gently when they stood at attention before wandering off to spend a few hours to themselves. 

     Now that the size issue was taken care of, everyone filed back into the elevator to head back to the bar, however as they approached, one couldn’t help but feel that something was off; the music was playing louder than normal, neither of the bouncers that denied Wrex earlier were nowhere to be seen, and there were no drunks stumbling out. All in all, it felt like something was about to go wrong, and oh how it all went wrong. Not even one foot had made it through the door before they had to duck down low to avoid bullets flying far too close for comfort, one had managed to wing Wrex on his frontal plate which caused the Krogan to snarl loudly. 

       “Get down!” Nova shoved Leo and Garrus down into cover as Wrex charged passed them in what could only be described as the infamous “Krogan blood rage”. The trio watched as Wrex charged through the thugs in the bar until they heard a loud crash, following the carnage of broken bodies found Wrex forcing himself through a hole in a door that he had made, the sound of his armor scraping against the door was grating painfully on their ears which made the taller Turian wince in pain. 

 “Let’s get him through before I go deaf.” Garrus rubbed his aching temple as he helped the twins push Wrex through the hole. Despite not having visible ears like humans, Turians had quite remarkable hearing, theirs being twice as strong as a human’s, so when they finally got Wrex through, he was greatly relieved. 

    Somehow, in his blood rage stumbling Wrex had managed to crash into Fist’s office, who was hiding behind one of the couches though it didn’t take long for the situation to change once he started shooting at them. He yelled in alarm when Nova lifted him high off the ground using her biotics while Leo used his own to rip Fists’ gun from his hands. 

  “Fist I presume? You’ve got about 5 seconds to tell us where the Quarian is before I let my friend here carry out his job.” A look around the trashed office made it obvious that the mysterious alien was nowhere to be found. 

      “5? Are you going soft sister?” Leo chuckled as he played along with Nova’s ploy. 

     “She’s not here!” Fist yelled as he tried to free himself to no avail, though his answer didn’t satisfy her. 

   “Wrong answer, now you’ve got 3 seconds.” Nova waved her finger in a ticking motion to show that his time was counting down. 

“Okay okay!” He relented “She’s not here, but I know where she’s going to be. I set her up to meet with the Broker, but that’s not who’ll be waiting for her.” He chuckled to himself at his deception which only infuriated Nova. 

   “He’s all yours, Wrex.” Nova lifted the man a little higher before throwing him over their heads, allowing Wrex to line up his shotgun before firing. The body fell to the floor in a messy heap by the door, forcing the group to step over him as they ran out the bar; they had little time to waste as Fist had all but said that the Quarian was in danger and if she had something against Saren, then it was very important that they find her. Soon they stopped dead in their tracks when the path they were on had split into two directions. 

     “Shit, we don’t have time for this!” Nova cursed as she quickly pulled up a map of the Citadel seeing that the paths led to the upper market and lower market respectively. “Leo, take Wrex and check the Lower Markets, Garrus and I will take the Upper Markets.” 

“Watch yourself out there.” Leo advised his sister and offered a small fist bump before rushing down the lower path with Wrex. 

- 

  “You and your sister seem close.” Wrex commented aloud as he and Leo descended a flight of stairs into a new section of the back alleys; a look at the map that Nova had sent to their omni tools showed that they didn’t have many more areas to search, just a few more dead ends and a small area before the Lower Market proper. 

     “Best friends for 24 years. Wouldn’t have gotten through N Training without- “but before Leo could finish his train of thought, he and Wrex passed by an alley entrance where they saw a Turian towering over a feminine figure and running a hand along her arm; they couldn’t hear what they were talking about from their current vantage point, but judging from the way the mystery figure just slapped the Turian’s hand away was enough to tell them that she was in trouble. A bright flash caught their attention as the figure had thrown a flash grenade to try and escape her attackers. Leo saw her duck behind some crates to hide from the Turian and some of his friends who had come out of hiding when the grenade exploded. 

“I think we found her!” Wrex laughed as he charged into the fight, taking down the Turian with his shotgun. 

   Leo couldn’t answer right away as he noticed a helmed figure, likely Asari judging from the humanoid shape and the strange shape of their helmet, was approaching the Quarian’s hiding place so he ran in and took him down with a hard elbow jab to the gut before wrenching a gun free from their hands and throwing them over his shoulder. Between him and Wrex, the mercs were taken care of in a matter of minutes, both males sharing a nod to the other in a job well done when the Quarian peaked out from her hiding place, casting what Leo assumed, it was a little hard to tell with her helmet covering her face, was a suspicious glance at them and the motionless bodies. 

   “W-who are you?” A small blade was clutched in her hands, likely hidden whenever she didn’t need it, and she looked like she had had some practice with the knife as her defensive stance was relatively solid. 

      “Easy” Leo spoke calmly as he secured his weapon and nodded at Wrex to do the same “My name is Leon Shepard, I’m a Lieutenant Commander of the Alliance Navy.” It seemed to ease the Quarian’s fears as she lowered her blade and seemed to relax a little. “Did Fist tell you to come here? We took care of him when he tried to sell you out for whatever information you have on Saren.” 

        “He was a dirty rat.” The Quarian’s voice dripped with acid “But I’m guessing you’re looking for this information too? I’ll give it to you in thanks for my life. My name is Tali’Zorah nar Rayya.” She finally stashed her knife away as Leo brought up his omni-tool to contact his sister. 

“Nov, I found her and she’s unharmed. Fist definitely set men after her but we got here in time.”  

   _“_ _Knew I could count on you LJ. Get out of there and take her to the Embassy, quickly if you can._ _Garrus_ _’_ _comms_ _are going crazy with C-Sec reports to check out your area. We’ll meet you there; if we’re lucky maybe we can get_ _Udina_ _to actually listen to us.”_ She snorted before closing the call. 

        “Who was that?” Tali looked to Leon as he led the group out of the alleys and headed to the nearest elevator. 

       “My sister, Nova. You might like her, she likes throwing grenades too.” He smiled when that earned a laugh out of their new friend.  

The elevator ride was mostly quiet save for Wrex commenting on some news alert on the speaker about some Krogan and Salarian study group. They had just stepped out of the lift when Leo got another message from his sister; she and Garrus were being held up by C-Sec and that they would have to go on without without them. 

     “50 credits that the Turian forgot some paperwork shit.” A deep chuckle came from the red plated Krogan as they entered the Upper Markets, the various smells of the food and sights of goods being offered reminded Leo that he needed to take stock of the supplies that they would need to gather for everyone on board the ship, but while shopping could wait until after the whole council business, he sent a message to the crew to forward any essentials that they couldn’t live without within reason. Thankfully the crew replied with requisitions that wouldn’t break the bank; mostly it was requests for parts or tools, Garrus had requested some special food that he could eat and there was an accompanying note for Tali saying that she could only eat very specific food catered to Turians or a simple nutrient paste type food. It took some time for them to navigate the crowded markets before they came upon a cab hub that would take them to the embassies. 

* 

    Nova had been relieved to hear from her brother when he called her to tell her that he had found their missing Quarian, and it seemed that he and Wrex were getting along nicely. After closing the call, she and Garrus had started to head back to the embassies but had been stopped by the Executor of C-Sec, whom Garrus had referred to as ‘Pallin’ when they first met outside of the Councilors’ chambers where the two Turians were arguing about Garrus’ report.  

   After a very awkward silent car ride, she found herself sitting in a waiting area of C-Sec station while her friend was getting ripped a new one; apparently before joining them, he hadn’t yet actually file for leave which was bad since a couple of people had supposedly seen them leaving Chora’s Den with blood on their armors. Feeling rather bored out of her skull, Nova pulled up her Omni-tool to scroll through some of her favorite applications; whenever she found herself unable to do something, voluntary or not, she often pulled up the application for a holographic keyboard that Leon had shown her one night after their first days of N-Training whenever she was unable to sleep. The keyboard had projected onto her lap and she directed the sound to play into her earbuds so she wouldn’t be disturbing anyone before she started fiddling on the keys 

   She didn’t know how much time had passed but Nova’s playing was interrupted when she heard, or, rather felt, a door slam open and Garrus walked out; a look at the Turian captain had essentially told her that their little ‘talk’ had not quite gone according to plan as Garrus had walked past her, leaving her to store away her holo-keyboard before chasing after him. He was standing outside answering a message on his omni-tool when she approached. 

    “Sorry about that, Commander.” He apologized with an annoyed flick of his mandibles “I can’t believe I forgot to check in.” 

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done the same” She offered him a gentle smile to show no hard feelings “So is everything good? Or is C-Sec going to try and hold you against your will?” 

  That got a chuckle out of the young Turian who merely shook his head. “No, actually. Despite my boss, what’s that expression, ‘ripping me a new one’?” He looked at her to see her nod in affirmation that he had gotten the expression correct “He said as long as I check in everyone now and then, I’m free to help you with Saren. Apparently,” he paused to summon a taxi car to take them back to the embassies “Pallin and I agreed that Saren is a disgrace to our species and needs to be taken down. I should count myself lucky, if my father wasn’t in retirement I’m pretty sure he would’ve either chained me to my desk or personally feed me to a Klixen.” 

“I take it you two sometimes butt heads?” The deep emerald of her inquisitive eyes met the icy blues of his as the sky car came into view. 

     “Something like that.” Was the answer she received before they climbed into the vehicle and sped toward the human embassy. 

  It only took a few minutes for the sky car to reach their destination and even fewer to race up the steps after paying the driver, when they opened the door to Udina’s office they found the ambassador yelling at her brother and Wrex, there was a figure that Nova could only assume was the Quarian that they had set out to find. 

   “There you are!” Udina’s attention shifted from her brother to her “Would the esteemed Commander care to explain why she enjoys making my job difficult? Firefights in the wards?! A bloody assault on Chora’s Den?! What were you _thinking_!” His voice became raised and yet the young woman kept her head, even if she had to physically bite her tongue to keep it firmly on her shoulders. “Ever since you stepped foot on the Citadel, you two have been making my job a nightmare.” He sighed as he rubbed his throbbing temple. 

“Well if you had let me even talk before ambushing us” Leo stood at his sister’s side, feeling just as offended as she at the ambassador’s attempt to defame her “you would know that we’re trying to help you by finding actual proof!” He looked to Tali and gave her a small nod, a silent gesture to go ahead and reveal whatever evidence she had; it was an audio log on her Omni-tool from a deactivated geth’s memory core that had captured a conversation with a very familiar voice. 

“Activating the beacon on Eden Prime has led us one step closer to finding the Conduit” Saren’s voice all but boasted and unknowingly sealed his fate. 

    “-And one step closer to the return of the Reapers.” A second voice, this one older and feminine, spoke with a calm and collected tone. 

  “I trust this will suffice for you?” Nova looked at the Ambassador, a slight shit eating grin was starting to curl on her lips which made her brother try and stifle his own laugh. Unfortunately for them, Udina wasn’t amused by the twins’ antics and rolled his eyes as he pushed passed them, determined to get another audience with the council. 

* 

    If there were any higher powers like Ashley or even Garrus would claim to believe in, they were now smiling upon the Shepard twins. They had watched as the three Councilors hung onto every word of the audio log; a slight sense of satisfaction came to Nova as she watched them with observing eyes as they were figuring out that their so called ‘golden Spectre’ had indeed gone rogue and was out of their control. 

  She held onto this feeling a little too long as the Asari Councilor, Tevos, said that she had recognized the voice of the female as that of some Asari matriarch’s but she was interrupted by Sparatus, the Turian to her right, who said that even if Saren was guilty of killing Nihlus there was little they could do aside from stripping him of his status as the rogue Spectre had likely fled outside their reach. If they were to follow him, it would likely cause a war with the other systems of the galaxy. 

  “So, you’d do nothing?!” Leo’s voice echoed through the chamber, catching both Nova and the Councilors off guard. “You wanted proof and now that you have it, you’re not going to hunt him down? Stripping him of his status won’t mean a thing to him.” 

  “If you won’t do anything then Saren will be free to find this ‘Conduit’ and doom us all! If you won’t send ships after Saren, then send us!” 

    Now that was certainly an idea; while they couldn’t risk a chance at war with the rest of the galaxy, they _could_ send someone operating under their authority, after all what better way to hunt down a rogue Spectre than to send _two_ of them? The Councilors looked to one another as if debating mentally, the chambers were so quiet that one could swear they could hear their own heart beating. After several moments that seemed to have dragged on forever, the three aliens apparently came to an agreement and bade the twins forward.  

 “It is the decision of the Council that the human candidates Novara Jane Shepard and Leon John Shepard, are to be officially granted all powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance of the Citadel” Tevos spoke with a soft voice but none could ignore the authority behind it. 

  Sparatus flicked his mandibles as he watched their reactions; he had considerable doubt that these two _humans_ _,_ who were still young in their years, could be proven worthy of such a task but he kept these thoughts to himself as he and Valern, activated their consoles to add their authorization to that of Tevros’. They watched as the twins’ omni-tools lit up with the confirmation of their newfound position. 

  “Thank you, Councilors, we’ll do everything we can to bring Saren to justice.” Nova stood tall beside her brother as the hearing was ending and they were dismissed; now that they were given their task, there was a lot to do and they had to gather the supplies they needed. Deciding on a divide and conquer approach, the twins split up to gather all that they would need; Leo combing the markets for the various food and supplies that they would need since he wasn’t sure when they would be docking into port again while his sister took it upon herself to check out the secret Spectre cache and grab some very nice weapons and armor sets for her and her brother to be delivered back to the Normandy. 

  Once the supplies had been gathered and they had received word from their new allies that they had brought all their own supplies aboard, Nova sent a message to the remaining crew telling them that they were forced to cut the shore leave short but they had a job to do and all hands were needed on deck. She was standing by the cargo doors overseeing the supplies being delivered while fielding the complaints of her crew as they filed into the ship, so far everyone was accounted for except for the Captain, which she found unsettling since usually he was the first one to arrive back. When the engines started coming to life, she started to become worried until she saw him exiting the deck lift with Udina coming up right behind him. 

“Captain! For a second I thought we were going to have to leave you here!” She chuckled but it died down when he didn’t return the feeling. “Captain?” 

       “There’s been a change of plans, Commander” He looked to Udina behind him with what she could only describe as distaste “The Council feels that I’m too personally involved given that Saren and I have…history. Effective immediately I’m to relinquish command of the Normandy to you.” 

       “But what about you?” Wisps of her long red hair were crossing into her vision as they escaped the tight hold of her bun and she looked to her Captain, she knew what he was asking her to do but she wasn’t sure if she was ready. “Captain?” 

           “You have your assignment Commander, you don’t take orders from me anymore. Keep them safe and give Saren hell, I know you can do it Nova.” He stood to attention and saluted her, a small smile on his lips when he saw that he caught her off guard before she returned the gesture. 

  “We’ll make you proud sir!” She swore to him before running into the Normandy so that they could take off, the ship roaring to life beneath her feet as they detached from the holding pads and departed the gate. “Talk to me Leo.” Her comm crackled to life as it connected her with her twin as she made her way through the ship, her first order of business was to tell the crew about the change in command. 

   “ _Everyone’s aboard and_ _I found bunks for our new friends_ _,_ _Tali_ _seemed excited to check out Engineering and I think_ _Garrus_ _and_ _Wrex_ _are stashing their stuff in the cargo area._ ” 

        “Great, have everyone strap in for the ride; we’re getting the hell out of here.” She cut the call as she arrived into the cockpit where Joker was reading the systems monitors to make sure everything was operating smoothly on the ship. “Joker, open the comms to the whole ship; if we’re going after Saren then I’m going to need all hands-on deck and that means I have to tell them the truth.” She leaned over the pilot’s chair to open the intercom. “Everyone, this is your Commander speaking..." She gripped the back of Joker's chair with a shaky hand as she carefully considered her next words "We all have our orders: we're to find and take down Saren by any means possible. I can't lie to you and say that this will be easy, but I can promise that we will do everything in our power to stop Saren and his plans. The Captain has put his faith in us and we cannot fail him, he gave up everything so we could have this chance. The Council doubts that we can do this so we have to make them eat their words; we have to make them see that Humanity is ready to do it's part for the galaxy because we _are_ a part of this galaxy too! By working together, we _will_  prove ourselves ready to take part with the rest of Citadel Space!" Nova couldn't hear the collective cheers of her crew as she ended the transmission and headed toward the space map to plot their next course. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like how this one came out; especially the split up chapter where we get to see Leo take charge for a little bit


	3. Therum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get a little too hot to handle on the search for the mysterious daughter of Saren's ally

_It was a tip from Tevos that led them to this sweltering hellhole; the day after they had left the Citadel, Nova had received a message from the Asari Councilor who had heard that the Matriarch Benezia who allied herself with Saren apparently had a daughter who could potentially offer information of her mother. That tip had led them to the system called Knossos in the Artemis Tau cluster. The Normandy’s VI had picked up a scan of massive energy use on Therum, so they started their search there._  
-

     “WHERE THE HELL DID YOU LEARN TO DRIVE?!” Garrus’s near shrieks of terror broke Nova out of her reverie; she and her brother, along with Garrus and Wrex, were crammed into the M35 Mako; Leo had called dibs on driving so she had taken the seat to the mounted gun. Which left poor Garrus and a rather pale looking Wrex to cling to their safety harnesses and pray to any deity that would listen.  
       “I always thought a Thresher or a bullet would take me out, not some Pyjak’s driving.” The intimidating Krogan willed his stomach to settle back down as Leo slowed the tank down by a large metallic structure that dug deep within the earth.  
   “Say what you will, but you have to admit that driving over Geth was pretty cool.” Leo’s infectious laugh filled the tank.  
       “Check your suits, I don’t want anyone frying to death out here.” Nova made sure that her suit’s internal temperatures were set as low as they could safely be and once the others had done the same, they exited the cool interior of the vehicle. When Joker told her that the planet was nearly 60 degrees Celsius, she thought he was pulling her leg but the moment she stepped out of the Mako to clear a gate, she was sweating bullets.  
    Unfortunately for them it was even hotter inside the mine shaft that the metallic structure emptied into, the twins were periodically wiping the sweat from their eyes. Nova’s hair was proving to be a menace by clinging to her scalp and sticking in front of her eyes at the same time, making her rather jealous of her brother’s shaved head. A chuckle from Wrex could be heard behind them as the Krogan watched the twins sweat and the Turian readjust his suit’s temperatures; while Turians didn’t sweat due to their plates, they could still overheat like a human could and had to take precautions to avoid doing so. “Add another 50 degrees and I might just be uncomfortable, you princesses wouldn’t last a day on Tuchanka.” The exasperated looks on their faces made him laugh even harder as they descended the tunnel “I’d say this is would be a cool day back home.” A smirk crossed his face when Nova threw her empty canteen at him but it missed and clunked into some dark corner of the tunnel.  
      The mineshaft was illuminated by pairs of tall standing lights that were set up in pairs throughout the descending pathway that felt more like they were walking into an oven with every step. The tunnel went down for nearly a mile before it opened to a large catwalk that gave them the impressive view of the seemingly endless cavern below. The echoes of their boots on the metal catwalk rang loudly through the cave and yet the whole place felt suspiciously quiet; supposedly this was supposed to be a Prothean archaeological dig site led by Benezia’s daughter Liara, but there was no sign of anyone even though all the lights had been left running. Stepping cautiously on the steps leading to a lower section of the catwalk, the group were surprised to see a pair of geth and their little combat drones. With no place to hide, they had trouble focusing their shots which led to Nova shooting a container that exploded while the last geth was hiding behind but not before said geth had fired a shot that took out the cooling unit on Nova’s suit. She didn’t see the Geth behind the crate as she had been more preoccupied at another just a few feet away and she was trying to cover Garrus who was under fire.  
    “Shit!” she swore as she tried to keep the coolant contained to her suit but it merely seeped through her fingers, already she could feel her suit becoming hot and stifling. “We need to find this doctor before I fry in my own damn suit.” Nova wiped more sweat as it dripped from her forehead and soaked through her gloves.  
They walked until they came upon what appeared to be an elevator shaft; a quick investigation of the power panel showed that it was still operational so they all packed inside and descended deeper into the cavern. Aside from a concerning groan, likely from their collective weight, the descent was quiet if not agonizingly slow, but, after several minutes the elevator groaned once again before coming to a jolting stop.  
      “Let’s not test our luck further, shall we?” Leon pried the door to the elevator open to find that they had landed just a few feet above another level of the catwalk, a faint glowing light nearby had illuminated the cave in a soft blue which allowed them to see further down the way. Nova had squeezed through the door first, then Garrus behind her; Wrex took Leon’s place to let the human slip free of the elevator.  
    The moment that the Krogan slipped free and his boots landed with a heavy thud on the catwalk, a soft voice echoed up from beneath their feet. “H-Hello! Is someone out there?! Please, I’m trapped in here!” The voice was feminine as it called out to them. Nova laid down on the catwalk to try and see the figure but she could only see their boots. A quick look around revealed a maintenance ladder not too far away.  
      They quickly descended the ladder to find a young Asari floating in the middle of the room, a shimmering energy surrounded her and was likely the cause of her suspended state; she quickly attested as such when she told them how she was examining a console and had activated the security field when Geth had started to creep into the tunnels. Looking at the young woman, Leo noticed a patch on her left shoulder that bore the emblem of the excavation party. “That symbol on your uniform; would you happen to be Dr. Liara T’Soni?” His suspicions were confirmed when she looked at him perplexed.  
     “H-how do you know my name?” Her concern was genuine as she noticed Nova and the others poking around the ruins looking for a way to set her free.  
  Before Leo could answer the inquiry, Nova spoke up as she came upon a large piece of machinery. “Councilor Tevos told us; we’re hunting a rogue Spectre and Matriarch Benezia has allied with him. We know she’s your mother- “  
“A mother that I have not spoken to in years” The young Asari quickly injected.  
     “Sorry, we’re just trying to get information.” Nova apologized before turning her attention back to the machine as a realization dawned on her. “Holy shit, is this thing a laser?” A disturbing grin had crept onto the young Commander’s face as an idea came to her mind; if they couldn’t get through the security field holding Liara, maybe they could get under it.  
     “Everyone get back!” Leo called out to Wrex and Garrus to move as they heard the soft whirring of the laser starting up just before it blasted a large hole underneath Liara. When the dust settled and the laser had died down, the guys could hear Nova’s giggling as she pulled herself from her new toy. “If you two thought my driving was bad, you clearly haven’t seen my sister’s love of superior fire power” he coughed as some dust tried to settle in his face.  
     One by one the group climbed up into the hole, taking care to avoid the crumbling rubble caused by Nova’s destruction and found a smaller, secondary lift that would in theory take them up to Liara. Thankfully this lift ascended much faster than its cavern counterpart and within minutes they found themselves in the same chamber as the young Asari maiden and the console that she had fiddled with; there were some strange looking runes or sigils that none of them recognized.  
    “Can you walk us through this thing?” Nova called over to Liara, figuring that the Prothean expert would likely be able to teach her how to disarm the Prothean device or at the very least help them to not make the situation worse.  
    Liara managed to move her head as far as she could to look over her shoulder, doing so caused several cramps in her neck but she was able to make out a few buttons on the console. “The last one I hit should still be pressed in, so there’s chance of hitting that one by mistake…” She closed her eyes as she tried to think of what she knew of Prothean tricks and traps when she remembered a small detail she had read in one of her first books of the culture. “The sigil that’s pressed in, look to see if there’s one that looks like it but mirrored.”  
     Nova stared at the panel until she did find one button with a mirrored image. Upon pressing it, there was a faint hum as whatever mechanism holding Liara powered down and said Asari fell free, landing in the armored arms of her brother as he caught her before she could hit the ground. But just as she was about to offer her thanks, a deep and violent rumble shook both the cave and the ground beneath their boots. When a second tremble occurred mere moments later it wasn’t hard to determine the cause; by using the laser to get to Liara, Nova had inadvertently set off a seismic episode and the cave wasn’t stable enough to handle the intense vibrations. “Everyone MOVE!”  
Rocks began to fall from the cavern as they raced back to the smaller elevator though they still had the problem of the main lift still being out of commission. Liara ran past Leo at the head of the group to lead them up the ground level of the catwalk, the sounds of the cave crumbling and the pounding heartbeats in their chests drowned out all sound around them even the sounds of Nova threatening Joker with the Normandy’s airlock if he didn’t move his brittle ass to rescue them.  
Liara struggled to keep up with the others and was having trouble catching her breath as she ran, so she didn’t see the rock in her path until her boot got caught. She felt a pop in her ankle as she hit the ground but was quickly picked up by Nova.  
     “Move!” The Commander yelled at her team as she readjusted Liara over her shoulder so she wouldn’t aggravate her ankle further; the added weight slowed her a little but she had to keep running as the cave was past crumbling and was now into full collapse mode. “Move those plates Vakarian!” Nova pushed Garrus to run faster as they cleared the top of the catwalk and only had the upward slope of the mine tunnel to separate them from freedom. The light of the sun nearly blinded them as they bolted out of the cave; Leo and Wrex had been first to clear the entrance with Garrus stumbling out behind them; a few moments passed when Leo realized that his sister had yet to emerge and he had to be held back by the others as he began to fear the worst.  
     “Nova!” His screams were drowned out by the engines of the Normandy as it descended from the sky. They watched as a cloud of dust shot forth from the tunnel, Nova and Liara both coughing heavily as the Commander staggered out of the cave, her face red and covered in sweat and dirt but alive.  
     “T-take her. Get her to med bay” She set Liara down and passed her to her brother as she struggled to catch her breath. Once air had once again graced her lungs, she staggered up the ramp to the Normandy and shut the door behind her once they were all on board the ship. The moment that the airlock shut behind her, Nova unabashedly started pulling at the latches to her armor, the clunky pieces falling to the floor in a heap until she was just in her damp under suit. The cool metal of the wall beside her was a blessed relief when she laid her red face against it. There was nothing she wanted more than to just lay her body against the cold metal to cool down but she was interrupted when Chakwas came to retrieve her with a glass of water in her hands.  
     “Med bay Commander.” She gently ‘requested’ as she relinquished her hold on the glass to which the younger woman downed in seconds before corralling her charge to be examined. Inside the med bay Liara and Leo were already inside; Liara for her ankle and Leo for his slightly elevated temperature though his wasn’t quite as bad as his sister’s. Chakwas directed her to an empty cot and frowned when she took note of just how red Nova’s face was and how high her internal temperature was. “You’re extremely lucky that it’s not as bad as it could be; with the heat and the physical exertion you went through, your mild hyperthermia could have easily been a heat stroke. As it is, I’m prescribing plenty of ice water and a rest in a nice, cool place. And a shower, for both of you.” The Doctor politely dismissed them both with a hand under her nose to try and stave off the building smell of sweaty bodies in her medical bay before tending to the Asari’s ankle which was only a small sprain from when she tripped.  
      _‘Commander, the council is on the vidcomm waiting for an update, want me to patch you through?’_  
   Nova looked at her Omni-tool disinterest as she had no real desire to talk to anyone while she was still sweaty and overall felt like a hot mess. “Let them wait, there’s a shower with my name on it.” She sighed tiredly as she stalked off towards the women’s wash.  
_‘Aye aye, Commander’_ Joker chuckled through his link before closing the channel.  
     The cool water of the shower felt just as amazing as the metal of the airlock doors. For several minutes, she simply just stood under the spray to let her body and took a few sips of the water as she felt her head clearing while her temperature slowly began going down if the redness of her skin going down was any indication. Once she started feeling a bit better, Nova’s mind began wander about their new ‘friend’; had what Liara said about not speaking to her mother been true? If she couldn’t point her to Benezia, then where would they go from here? Her thoughts were interrupted when the cool water turned icy and forced her out of the water before her mild hyperthermia became a mild case of hypothermia. After drying and dressing in one of her work out shorts and tank top, a tip from Chakwas that dressing in light clothing would also help in reducing her temperature, Nova tied up her hair before starting up her omni-tool as she gathered her undersuit and headed to the laundry facilities.  
  _“Therum ground team: bring your suits to the washroom, I won’t have the Normandy smelling like a gym locker room.”_ She sent the command as her omni-tool began beeping frantically as the Council had given up on calling the Normandy’s comms and had gone for a more direct line to their Spectre. “Councilors.” She forced a smile as a hologram of the trio flickered to life.  
     “Commander, we received your brother’s, shall we say, rather brief report.” Valern looked to her attire skeptically as a pair of human and Krogan undersuits dropped into an empty basket from an overhead laundry chute that she retrieved and tossed into them into the washer before returning her full attention to the hologram.  
      “Was Benezia’s daughter able to offer any information as to the whereabouts of her mother?” Tevos’s hologram shifted into focus as the Asari councilor was reading over the datapad that contained Leo’s report.  
    Nova shook her head “Our initial conversation was that she hasn’t spoken or dealt with her mother in years. Currently she’s in the infirmary being checked out for a minor injury.”  
   “Then are you sure it’s wise to have her on board, Commander?” Valern spoke up again “How can you be sure that she’s not working for Saren or protecting her mother?”  
 “If that was the case Councilors, then how would you explain the Geth trying to shoot their way through the shield that was holding her? If she was working with her mother, then hypothetically it could have been easy for her to trap us in those ruins!” Nova didn't mean to raise her voice or slam the door to the washer but she wasn't too fond of the condescension that was simply oozing from their collective tones even through a hologram.  
     “Yes, the ancient and valuable ruins that you single-handedly _destroyed_!” Sparatus was unable to hold his tongue any longer and glared at Nova with eyes that could easily chill the blood of any weak-willed species “Was it really necessary to employ a laser? Surely you could have- “He was cut off as Nova ended the transmission; being yelled at had done nothing to quell the headache that had been developing in her head.  
     “Assholes.” She rubbed her aching temple as she looked through the basket to find it still lacking the suit of a certain Turian but before she could turn around to leave, a cough drew her attention and she found Garrus standing in the doorway with his suit in his arms as well as her armor.  
    “I didn’t realize it when it happened but I heard that your armor got damaged because you were covering me.” His mandibles flicked in embarrassment as he handed her the chest piece and flicked open the compartment that housed the heating and cooling units to the internal systems; the tube that carried the coolants had been replaced and a new one was in its place as he had fixed it for her. “Figured it was the best way to repay you.” The hide on his neck colored with a deep blue blush as he watched her admire his work.  
         “Well that’s one less thing for me to worry about.” A light chuckle escaped her lips. “Thank you Garrus, that really helps me out.” Her eyes drifted to the suit in his hands and collected it to throw it in the wash with the others. When she turned around, she noticed that he quickly moved his gaze elsewhere and the blush in his hide had darkened in shade.  
     “S-sorry, I was just trying to see your markings! I-I didn’t mean to stare!”  
   It took her a moment to realize that the ‘markings’ he was referring to were likely the freckles and the tattoos on her back that had bits of it poking out from the shoulders of her red tank top and the dragon eating its tail on her upper bicep, but it was obvious that he thought that she thought he might’ve been looking elsewhere which certainly explained the vibrant cobalt on his neck. Nova rarely wore sleeveless tops outside of sparring, so she sometimes forgot that others could see her ink or the many, many freckles that peppered her body from head to toe. “Don’t worry about it” A soft smile on her lips eased his blush a little bit though she couldn't help but laugh a little at his expense. “Hey, are you working on anything right now?” She looked up to him as an idea formed in her head.  
    “Not right now. Why?”  
   “I need to get back at Leo for telling the Councilors about that stupid laser.” A rather concerning devious smirk curled at her lips as she set a timer on her omni-tool to count down until the wash was done before sneaking by him to get all that she would need.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, i had a little fun with this one. I got to research signs for heat exhaustion for Nova and I think I did a decent job. One thing i really enjoyed about this one was detailing Nova's freckles and some of her tatts (There is a third one that will be revealed later) and we got a little shakarian fluff! :D 
> 
> Also I greatly enjoyed the fact that we could hang up on the Councilors when they were being butts


	4. Into the Ring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew spends a little time getting to know each other

    “Sure you want to do this kid? Would hate to smear the floor with ya.” Wrex chuckled as he watched Leo stretch from a few feet away. It was Nova’s idea; gather everyone together for a friendly spar to get to know each other save for Liara and her out of commission ankle. It was a common tactic in the Alliance Navy to ease tension and stress, and in some cases, a way for alien species to honestly communicate with one another. The rules were simple; no claws, no biotics and no dirty tricks. Whoever was knocked outside of the ring was loser of the match. And though she wasn’t condoning this, Karin was standing by to make sure no one got any injuries aside from a wounded pride.

      “Maybe you should put your credits where your mouth is, big guy.” The younger Shepard eyed his opponent as the two circled one another on the soft mats of their little “arena”. They had set up in the middle of the cargo bay and had made a ring out of storage trunks so any fighting couldn’t get out of hand lest someone should be knocked into the Mako nearby. Favoring a friendly fight, they had all changed into their civvies except for Tali and the environmental suit she needed to live.

                “Enough talkin’ girls” Nova chirped up from behind them “Are you two gonna dance or should we let someone else have a turn?”

         The two warriors did another circle around one another before Wrex firmly planted his feet into the squishy mat just as Leo slammed into the thick plated Krogan with all his weight into his shoulder, barely causing Wrex to shift his weight though the attempt did make him laugh. A headbutt sent the man staggering back with a large red mark on his head that would likely need to be iced to avoid getting a knot. Shaking off the pain, Leo laughed slightly as he charged again; this time ducking under and just barely missing another swing from Wrex as he came up from behind him. The Krogan had little time to react as Leo shoved a hard elbow into the soft yellow hide of his opponent’s kidney which made him groan enough to cause the others to wince slightly. This began a game of Cat and Mouse between the two which was becoming very interesting as Wrex had all but given up trying to hit the Lieutenant Commander and had settled on trying to strangle him instead.

                “Stand still, you little pyjack!” Wrex roared as he staggered from once again missing Leo with a punch, each missed blow was starting to make him more agitated and it didn’t help when Leo would laugh or taunt him.

                “Aww come on, big guy, where’s the fun in that?” Leo dodged a punch and landed one of his own on Wrex’s chest before sidestepping once again to avoid his opponent. Normally this wasn’t his style, often preferring to dish out what he took in a fight, but when it came to fighting a guy who was taller and had more than twice his weight on him, Leo was reminded of something his father once taught him; _‘Fight smarter not harder’_. He could see his plan was starting to work as Wrex let out another furious roar before planting his feet to charge, the crowd watching with baited breath as Wrex ran with full force across the ring only to miss Leo at the last second and crashed into the ring, thus ending the match in Leo’s favor. The victor, being the good sport, he was, offered a hand to Wrex before helping him re-establish the ring, though the latter muttered something about pyjacks under his breath, and when they were done, Nova held up her helmet that contained little slips of paper with their names to draw up the next round.

    “Kaidan, Ash, get your butts in there!” She called out with a cheer as the others joined her, all of them eager to see what kind of show they could put on. The two humans shared a look before stepping into the ring, both giving their limbs a final stretch before facing each other. On the signal to start the fight, both marines raised their fists and eyed each other warily. Kaidan was the first to throw a punch which landed on Ash’s shoulder, the latter smirking as she gauged the Lieutenant as she dodged a second punch by ducking low and socking him hard in the chest which caused him to stagger back.

                The crew watched as Ash landed punch after punch to whittle down Kaidan’s defenses, the Lieutenant was barely able to get in his own defensive shots but managed a hard hit to her jaw. The rest of the crew collectively winced when they heard the man groan as a bandaged hand connected with his collarbone before returning the blow which ended up knocking Ash off her feet. Before Chakwas could step in, Ash rose to her feet and took a moment to wipe a bit of blood from her cracked lip, the look she gave Kaidan sent a clear message: ‘ _you’re dead meat’_.

                Ashley pelted him with several hard blows before ducking down and kicked his own legs out from beneath him, sending him to the ground with a hard ‘thud’ as the wind was knocked right out of his lungs. “Did I forget to mention that I personally taught all my sisters how to fight?” She laughed as she held him down with half her weight put into her knee on his chest.

                Kaidan tried throwing her off but every time he tried she would slam her knee against his sternum; it took only a few hits of abuse before he tapped out much to the dismay of the guys watching.

       The girls were all cheering at the victory as Ash exited the ring and gave her teammates a high-five in victory while the guys gave Kaidan a rough time; Wrex trapping the man in a headlock while Leo encouraged said Krogan much to the Lieutenant’s dismay as he tried to squeeze his head out of Wrex’s tight grip which only made the rest of the crew erupt in laughter. “Who’s next?” Tali’s giggling was infectious as she looked to the helmet in Nova’s lap; they had near all but forgotten about the next round of their little ‘bonding exercise’.

                Nova’s laughter died down as she wiped some tears from her eyes before returning her attention to her helmet “Let’s see…” she made a show of shuffling the three names still left before finally grabbing two of the slips “Oh Garrus, hope you’re ready to dance with me.” She held up the pieces of paper with their names while said Turian looked at her curiously before stepping into the ring; as per the rules, he had spent the whole time dulling down his talons so he wouldn’t accidently slice into the squishy humans or rip Tali’s suit; no matter how tough the material was, he didn’t want the Quarian girl to fall ill from a tear.  

                Garrus watched his Commander hand her helmet to her brother as he took her spot where she was sitting before she too stepped into the ring, giving her joints a good pop before raising her fists and he did the same.

                “Come on, now, don’t keep me waiting.” She teased him as they circled one another in the ring, their footsteps padded by the thick padded mats.

        “I believe the saying goes ‘it’s rude to keep a lady waiting’? Not sure if it applies here.”

                  That earned an uproar from the crowd and a shocked face from Nova who was at a momentary loss for words before she surprised them with her own laughter “Alright Vakarian, you’re going _down_.” She lunged for him but came up short of her target when he sidestepped her and he twisted her arm behind her back     .

    ‘ _Pardon me Commander, I hate to interrupt’_ Joker’s light chuckle was all but sorry ‘ _We’re coming onto Feros, but I’m not getting any answers from anyone.’_

                A collective groan rang out from the crew as their fun was brought to an end, they had been rather looking forward to the Commander and Garrus duking it out in the ring. “Alright, Tali and Garrus, suit up to meet us groundside.” Nova gave the order as she watched the others disperse in disappointment to their stations. “Garrus?” She looked back to her friend before gesturing to her arm “You can let go now”.

                “Sorry!” His mandibles flicked in embarrassment as he relinquished the hold he had on her arm, his hide becoming slightly discolored again with a blush. “I-I’m just going to…grab my armor.” He left the ring while unsuccessfully trying to get his blush to go away, leaving the Commander alone; not hearing the woman’s slight chuckles as she too left the cargo hold and went to change into her jumpsuit and meet with her team.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a little tricky to write since writing wrestling scenes is a bit harder than shooting a gun but I think it came out rather well. The whole idea came from Garrus' well known line in ME2 of "Testing reach and flexibility" but unlike the romance context, it was supposed to be a sparring match.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really proud to post the first chapter of my Mass Effect fic 'Supernova'! I hope you guys like it and any feedback is greatly appreciated :)
> 
> I would also like to give a shout out to tumblr user Sidekickkep for letting me use her Aries Shepard as a cousin to my twin Shepards!


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